Abstract
Atoms (and molecules) with a well-suited energy level structure can be rendered transparent to a light beam they would usually absorb by the presence of a “control” laser beam. This “electromagnetically induced transparency” (EIT) [1] can be understood as a consequence of quantum interference of different excitation pathways of the atom by the probing beam. Strong optical dispersion concomitant with the narrow transparency window can induce large—and tunable—group delay for the probe laser. This effect has been used to slow and even store light pulses in atomic vapors.
© 2011 Optical Society of America
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